MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. Russia has not received an invitation from France to participate in the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this.
"This is how they do things: when they want to do something, they can't stay within the bounds of decency. Decent people send a letter and then announce it. And here they say, 'We are going to invite, but not [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but someone else.’ And no one invited anyone. We didn't receive anything," he said in an interview with the radio stations Sputnik, Govorit Moskva and Komsomolskaya Pravda. He promised to inform if an invitation was received.
Lavrov recalled that five years ago, in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Russia was represented by an ambassador, and 10 years ago - in 2014 - there was a meeting that laid the foundation for the Normandy format on Ukraine and the process that ended with the signing of agreements "that neither Germany, France nor Ukraine wanted to fulfill." "That's why we have such allusions," the top diplomat said. At the same time, he pointed out that from the point of view of historical truth and justice, there would be no second front without the heroism and sacrifice of tens of millions of Soviet citizens.
The foreign minister also noted that the Germans hold a day of remembrance for the victims of concentration camps, and they "proudly announced that this year the Russians will not be invited."
Earlier, Europe 1 radio reported, citing its sources, that France intends to send an invitation to Russia to take part in the celebrations in Normandy on June 6. For his part, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian side has not yet received an official invitation to the ceremony in Normandy.
Commemorative events of the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, which marked the opening of the second front in Western Europe, are held every five years with the participation of foreign leaders and veterans.